Making It Work
by ShipperNumberOne
Summary: Growing up is always messy. Falling in love is rarely fun. Trying to do all this with a bunch of older brothers and cousins looking over you probably only makes it worse. You just have to try to make it work. Don't own anything - everything you can recognise from the Harry Potter universe is Rowling's, including the universe itself. Rated M for certain swearing and possible smut.
1. Prologue

_Dear Mum and Dad,_

 _Albus is already fast asleep, so I promised him I'd write to you. He was exhausted, but he has made it into Gryffindor! I told him he could write to you tomorrow, but he wanted to tell you now, so here you go. Hope Lily is doing okay. Wish her a happy birthday from me! Al and I hid her presents under his bed, could you give them to her?_

 _Love,_

 _James_

 _Mum, Dad,_

 _Has James written to you? He told me he'd write you. I was so tired yesterday I almost fell face first into my treacle tart during dinner. But it was dinner at the Gryffindor table so I didn't really care. Luckily today is a Saturday so I could sleep in and didn't have to go to class yet. James promised me he would show me around the castle today so I wouldn't get too lost on my first day._

 _They did hand out the class schedules during breakfast this morning, though. I'm a bit nervous about double Potions with Slytherin first thing on Monday, but I hope Slughorn goes easy on us. After that there's Herbology with Hufflepuff. Lizzy Longbottom is a Hufflepuff, so that should be fun._

 _My dorm mates seem nice enough. Of course I have Freddy there, and then there's Will and Michael._

 _I hope Lily has a wonderful birthday. Tell her I can't wait till we can go to Hogwarts together, and that I miss her, and that I will see her soon._

 _Lots of love,_

 _Albus_

 _Dear parents,_

 _I overslept this morning. As a result, I was late for double Potions. Rose couldn't stop glaring at me and she hasn't stopped talking about it all day, but Slughorn was cool about it. There was only one seat left though, and I was put next to Scorpius Malfoy. I know uncle Ron told Rose to stay away from him, but he isn't that bad. He's quite good at Potions, so it's nice to have him as a partner._

 _Love,_

 _Albus_

 _Mum, Dad,_

 _Scorpius is really cool. He's a great flyer, too. I don't know why uncle Ron said to stay away from him._

 _See you at Christmas!_

 _Love, Albus_

 _Mum, Dad,_

 _Score's parents have to go away for business the last two weeks of the holidays. Is it okay if he comes to stay with us? He'll spend Christmas at his place, and then he'd come over the day after and spend those weeks with us before going back to Hogwarts._

 _Please say yes!_

 _Albus_

 _Lils,_

 _I'm bringing my best friend over for the holidays. Please please please don't start of the conversation with the whole birthday business. You'll scare him off and he won't ever come over anymore and he's my only non-Weasley related friend. I'll buy you pumpkin pasties._

 _Love, Al_

 _Dear brother,_

 _You drive a hard bargain brother mine. I can't promise you anything. Will try my best. Can't wait to see you! I'm so excited!_

 _Lots of love_

 _Lily_


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'm going to try my best for either weekly updates or once every two weeks. However, as a second year med student, my spare time is limited at best, non-existing at worst. So bear with me even when updates are maybe less than regular - I promise this story is going somewhere! English is not my first language (bonus points for the person who guesses where I** ** _am_** **from though), so please point out any mistakes I make so I can improve, but don't be too harsh on me. I'm only human!**

 **Not only am I human, I'm also quite forgetful. I'm not fishing for reviews here (but I do like them!), but they do serve as a good reminder for me to keep writing. So if you like the story, please remind me every now and then to update. Like I said, a two week wait will be normal, but with exams and deadlines it might slip my mind for longer than that.**

 **Author's notes won't be this long ever again!**

 **Disclaimer: everything you recognise from the Harry Potter universe is not mine. If it was, I wouldn't be working my butt off at uni right now...  
**

Chapter 1

Wednesday morning, the day after Boxing day, Scorpius stood in front of the hearth. He gave a sort of wave to his parents. "Love you Mum, Dad."

"We love you, too, sweetheart," his mother said lovingly. She kissed the top of his head and his father smiled at him from behind his newspaper.

"Enjoy your time with your friends, son, and have a good term. Tori, stop fussing over the kid. He will be fine."

"Yes, yes, go now," Astoria said, after hugging her son one last time. "We'll see you for Easter."

Scorpius cleared his throat, took some Floo Powder from the little embellished box and threw it in the flames. Holding his bag he jumped into the green flames, saying "7 Peony Lane, Godric's Hollow". The familiar feeling of flooing – the feeling of being flushed down a toilet, Scorpius always imagined – luckily stopped quickly enough, and the blond boy stumbled into what looked like a dining room. He threw an awkward look at the soot he had spread over the floor in the process of entering the Potter's home.

His first impression of the Potter home was that it was very Gryffindor. The wall across from him was a deep red, and was behind an ancient looking grandfather clock with golden accents. The Gryffindor theme was visible throughout the whole dining room and adjacent living room he could see from his position on his little island of soot. He was just wondering if he, a born and bred Slytherin, would be at all welcome here, when he heard a voice that made this fear grow even more.

"Malfoy," a sharp voice said, making him jump. He turned his head to where the sound had come from and found a little redhead standing on the little steps that probably led from the hallway into the dining room. The girl must have been Al's sister, though she didn't look at all what he had thought she'd look like. He had sort of imagined a copy of Rose, Albus's cousin in their year. However, the girl didn't look at all like her cousin. Legs a lot shorter, hair a lot straighter – not a frizzy bunch, but instead smooth curls falling down her back, in a light auburn colour instead of a bright orange – and skin a lot paler. Or not paler, Scorpius thought, as he looked closer, but she missed the bunch of freckles he had seen on the faces of almost every other Weasley in school – including Roxanne's and Fred's, who's freckles were clearly visible even on their darker skins.

She coughed, and he locked eyes with her embarrassedly, and immediately wished he hadn't. He knew Lily must be one or two years younger – he hadn't cared to ask Albus or anyone for that matter before he got here – but the look in her hazel eyes would make even tough-as-nails Head Boy Anthony Shacklebolt crumble.

"I'd tell you to take a picture because it lasts longer, but I'm afraid that would make your ears as scarlet as my Uncle Ron's," she said, grinning. "I promised Ally I wouldn't scare you off within the first day, and he will probably kill me when he sees you blushing like that, so I'll just introduce myself. Hi, I'm Lily- "

"Luna Potter," Scorpius interrupted quickly, finding his voice again and trying to give himself some sort of attitude other than awkward. "Al told me. I'm Scorpius-"

"Malfoy, as I already said. Sorry, don't know a middle name." Without so much as breathing, she continued. "You okay over there? Come, sit down." She was already pulling back a chair from the dining table, shoving aside some newspapers, books and quills. "Sit, sit," she ushered. "Ally will be down in a bit, but he's still cleaning his room." She laughed at this. "I set off a Dungbomb in there this morning, but don't tell anyone I did it, they just think it was a faulty one of his. You want some tea?"

"Do you ever run out of breath?" Scorpius inquired as politely as he could while the girl was walking towards another door – he assumed the one that led to the kitchen.

She laughed again, a deep roaring, not very girly laugh. "Rarely," she said cheerfully. "Tea? Coffee? Pumpkin juice?"

"Pumpkin juice would be great, thank you."

Right as he said that, Albus came stumbling into the room. "Score!" he shouted happily as soon as he spotted his best friend, eyes slightly wild. "You okay? Want a drink?"

"Already on it!" they heard a strained voice from the kitchen.

Two minutes later Lily walked in, carrying three glasses of pumpkin juice. "Those bloody cupboards are too high. If only they'd just let me levitate them down, but Merlin forbid I'd make life easier on everyone. _Only practicing and necessary magic, Lily Luna!"_ she said in a funny voice.

Lily grinned when she saw her brother's friend looking at her. She had to admit, it was a weird – and not entirely legal – situation. To explain, she handed him her practice wand from the waistband of her jeans. The sensation of holding a practice wand was strange to any witch or wizard who had ever held a real wand, or so she was told. She didn't yet know if it was true, her parents and brothers had always made sure she couldn't accidentally grab her wand.

Scorpius rolled the wand between his fingers. "It feels weird," he muttered, not looking up, instead gazing at the wood between his fingers. "It doesn't even come close to how my own wand feels when I hold it – not even like the wrong ones at Ollivander's . But it does feel – glowing?" He looked at the owner's face for confirmation, and she nodded enthusiastically.

"When I was growing up, a lot of stuff blew up. Bushes burned down. One time, the Christmas tree suddenly shot up and hit the ceiling – baubles and all. It was more than just the casual, accidental magic every child experiences, you know."

"She's a lot more under control now," they suddenly heard a soothing voice. Lily caught her mother's glance when she entered the room. "Hello, you must be Scorpius." She held out her hand to introduce herself. "I'm Ginny Potter, the mother of these two maniacs." Switching her attention back to Lily, she reprimanded her daughter: "You shouldn't scare off the guests within their first hour in our home, Lily Luna. The boy hasn't even had a chance to put his bag away and clean up."

Lily shrugged. "It's better to tell him now than when I accidentally send dinner through the window tonight. I'm more controlled, but still not entirely in control, you know?" This question was directed at the blond boy, who just nodded, looking a bit dumbfounded.

"So – you already do magic? But you're not eleven yet," he summarised.

"Basically. There was just too much magic inside of me. So Uncle George developed a practice wand, using the fake wands from the joke shop as a basis. He couldn't get them Ministry approved, but at least now I have a controlled outlet and don't set the garden on fire anymore."

Understanding dawned on Scorpius's face. Lily had to give him that – the boy wasn't stupid. He seemed nice, too.

"Well," the blond boy smiled at the redheaded girl. "This will certainly be an interesting two weeks."


	3. Chapter 2

**So writing has been going rather well, and I'm really happy to get a review (absolutely thrilled, really) and have some followers, so I thought, what the hell, I'm just going to upload a couple of days early. I hope you all like to read conversations, because this story will be full of those. Anyway, last pre-Hogwarts chapter and then off to first year we go. Next chapter will most certainly be longer, and the ones after that will probably be a lot more lengthy as well, now that I have a bit of an idea what a thousand words look like on the internet instead of in a document. Let me know what you think/like/dislike - reviews are lemon merengue pie in Summer.**

 **Disclaimer - well, that's kind of obvious, isn't it? Don't and won't own anything Harry Potter related, except for the plotline of this little fic.**

Chapter 2

It certainly was an interesting two weeks. Albus and Scorpius spent all of Wednesday in the room they would share the next fortnight, laughing and joking like they had done the previous months in school. Every now and then Scorpius glanced out of the window, where he saw Lily repairing a crack in a pot containing a tree that held purple fruits, soften a rock (and after that bouncing it around, laughing happily) and performing other spells they hadn't even touched that year. The effects were not as strong as they would have been with a real wand, Albus explained to him, but they were noticeable none the less and it took just as much magic to get the minor response out of the practice wand as to get the full blown effect from a proper one.

Dinner with the Potters was also something else. The little family that lived in Malfoy Manor dined together in relative silence, only interrupted by the clattering of cutlery or the tapping of glasses on the soft tablecloth. Conversation was held afterwards, when they sat together in the sitting room, taking turns playing the piano and drinking tea.

At 7 Peony Lane, however, dinner was _not_ silent. Owls came and went, either from friends or family members or from the work places of Mr and Mrs Potter. The family of five talked continuously, and every time one person stopped talking to take a bite, another started chatting.

However, two days after Scorpius arrived, everyone fell silent at the dinner table when Lily directed a question at Scorpius.

"When's your birthday, Scorpius?" The question surprised him, but the others just groaned.

"Lily," Mr Potter said in warning voice.

"I told you not to ask this!" Albus mumbled. "I told you not to."

"You told me not to ask him on the _first_ day," she corrected him. "This is his third day."

"You shouldn't ask questions when you won't like the answer."

Lily focused on Scorpius, who really didn't understand why they made such a fuss about a simple question. "I promise you I won't blow anything up. Just tell me."

"It's August 31st."

James eyes widened. Mr Potter choked on his water and started coughing. Albus just groaned.

Lily's face went blank, before slamming her fork in the table. It stayed up, and Scorpius started wondering just how strong his mate's baby sister was. "You bloody lucky bastard!" she shouted, standing up, her chair falling back.

Not knowing why he was lucky or what else to say, he only saw one appropriate response to this. "I'm sorry?"

This girl was a mess. Scorpius was so confused. One minute she was quite a pleasant person, the next she was ruining the furniture while yelling at him for his date of birth, and now she was laughing. He looked in amazement at her chair, that stood up by itself so she could sit down again. Still in fits of roaring laughter, she managed to squeeze out: "So you should be."

Mrs Potter rolled her eyes. "Lily, dear, mind your manners. And language, please."

Lily was just about to shoot her mother a witty reply, when something blue caught her eye.

"Teddy!"

"Hi Lily-bud," her godbrother said from the doorway. He opened his arms for her to run over and jump in, which she did, so he could hug her close. He put her down and looked at her sternly. "You need to eat more. You weigh next to nothing."

"The same could be said about you, Edward. Do the Aurors not let you eat when you're gone?" Lily had always loved her godbrother like her own brother, and she hated when he went away on missions like this, where he was gone for days. Now that Albus was at Hogwarts, those days were especially lonely.

Teddy grinned at her, giving her a slight push towards the table for her to sit down again. "Well, the food certainly isn't as good as at home. Or at Hogwarts." His gaze slid over to the table, planning to ask his youngest brother how Hogwarts was treating him, when he spotted the blond boy. "Either Louis has figured out reversed aging or we adopted a blond kid."

"That's Albus's friend Scorpius," Lily whispered loudly. "His birthday is the 31st of August."

"The bloody lucky bastard!" Teddy said, all the while grinning at the boy, who gave him a small smile back, not at all looking comfortable.

"That's what I said!" Lily told Teddy.

"I know, Lily-bud, I heard you shouting. In fact, I think the whole neighbourhood heard you shouting." He held his hand out for Scorpius. "I'm Teddy, Teddy Lupin. Don't mind my birthday-obsessed sister."

"Scorpius Malfoy," Scorpius replied, before asking: "Can someone, maybe, explain what the obsession with birthdays is about? Why am I lucky?"

"Because yours is just before the cut-off date," Teddy explained, while kissing his godmother on her cheek and ruffling the hair on both Albus's and James's heads. He took his seat across from his godfather. "Lily's birthday is the September 2, so she missed the cut-off date of September 1- "

"By three minutes!" she replied, raising her hand to slam the table again, but this time Teddy caught her wrist. She huffed at him, then continued. "Born three minutes into September 2, I have to be eleven for 364 days before starting Hogwarts."

Comprehension dawned on Scorpius's face. "That does sound rather annoying."

She nodded solemnly, glad he understood. "It is."

After this little spat, nothing special happened. It was a nice two weeks, Scorpius had fun. On the 5th of January, the whole family went to Kings Cross to send the kids back to Hogwarts, and Lily hugged everyone, including Scorpius, who hadn't really expected it but didn't really mind. She told him he should most definitely come visit them again.

He did visit again, but never for two weeks, or even for two consecutive days, and somehow Lily was never there when he came over for the day during one of the holidays. So the next time he saw the explosive little redhead was the day after he turned thirteen, and the day before she turned eleven: September 1 2019.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: I really love that people are following this story and reviewing! I was asked for Albus's birthday, so I decided I'd post the list of the birthdays I thought up for this story including year of birth:**

 **ERL: April 5, 1998**

 **JSP: January 8, 2005**

 **ASP: May 12, 2006**

 **LLP: September 2, 2007**

 **SHM: August 31, 2006**

 **RW: March 7, 2006**

 **HW: February 12, 2008**

 **Also good to know, in case I forget to mention this explicitly somewhere in the story: I figured it would be a nice touch to have Roxanne and Fred be twins. As mentioned in the prologue (Albus's letters home), they're in the same year as Albus and Scorpius, so two years ahead of Lily.**

 **This chapter is a long one, I think. The one after will be a lot shorter, because it just sort of happened that way. That does mean that chapter will come a little early though, so there will be less of a wait after this one for once. All other chapters will probably have a full week between them, but they're going to be more or less the same length as this one, maybe longer. (Still figuring out how a certain amount of words looks when posted, it always seems to be a lot more when I'm writing it...) So all in all, you win some you lose some.**

 **Reviews are like sweet potato chips on a hot September night, seasoned with slightly too much paprika.**

 **Disclaimer: Everything is Rowling's.**

Chapter 3

After having kissed both her parents and Teddy and hugging her uncles and aunts, Lily had stowed her trunk into one of the compartments on the Hogwarts Express. Hugo took ages taking in all the advice Aunt Hermione was giving him – honestly, like they hadn't heard it all before – and her brothers were taking ages catching up with friends, so she had taken it upon herself to find an empty spot before all the nice compartments were taken. Not that she, a mere first year, had any clue what the nice compartments were. Instead she had just taken a guess, and slid into the first one that had seats of relatively intact leather and with as little unidentifiable stains and scratches as possible.

She had decided she liked this compartment. She had already changed into her robes and had now curled up on the couch to read her newspaper.

Putting it lightly, Lily was excited to go to Hogwarts for the first time. For Merlin's sake, she was bloody thrilled. She had been looking forward to this moment since she knew what Hogwarts entailed, other than the place where the yearly memorial was held every 2nd of May. She finally got to learn real magic, with a real wand, from real teachers. She had packed her trunk four days in advance, then realised she had packed her robes at the bottom of her trunk and would never be able to reach them on the train without unpacking her entire trunk, had unpacked at home. She repacked it again, then realised she still had to wear some of the clothes she had already packed. After repeating the process of packing, unpacking and repacking eight times, she had given up, instead putting off packing her trunk until right before she went to bed the previous night.

She had just put her newspaper away and was planning to start on her copy of that week's Quibbler when a ginger boy slid open the door of her compartment, dragging his trunk behind him. "There you are!" he panted. "Been looking for you ever since the train left the station."

At this, Lily looked up. "Hi there Hugo." She frowned. "What do you mean, the train left the station?" she asked dumbly. She couldn't possibly have missed the train pulling up and leaving.

"Yeah," Hugo nodded, starting to try to put his trunk away. "We left London a couple of minutes ago. Don't tell me you missed it."

Lily really hated when things like this happened. She started reading, forgot the world around her and missed the important stuff. "I didn't even wave goodbye when we left." She dropped her head in her lap. "I'm the worst child ever!"

"Well I certainly agree with that," she heard a teasing voice from the compartment door. "What'd you do now?"

She jumped up and slung her arms around her brother's neck, ignoring his friends standing behind him, who snickered but didn't say a thing. "Jamie, I didn't notice we left the station! I didn't even wave to Mum and Dad!"

At this, James laughed, which got Lily even more frustrated. She hit him over the head with her magazine. "It's really not that funny, James!"

"It kind of is," he argued, shielding his head with his arms. "Mum and Dad really won't mind, though. They'll get plenty of chances to send you off to Hogwarts." He ruffled her hair and smiled at her. "C'mon, I'll introduce you to a couple of mates." He turned away from her and gestured to some guys standing behind him. "Lads, this is my sister, Lily. Lily, this is Tom Martins, Kaden Shaklebolt – you've maybe seen him at the Ministry when visiting Dad – and Louis. You know Louis of course."

"I know my own cousin, yeah," Lily quipped. "Hi there guys. You're both Gryffindors two, I presume?"

Kaden nodded while Tom answered. "Yeah, we've been sharing a room with these two for the last three years. We have another roommate, but he's closer to the Ravenclaws. Spends most of his time in the library and all that."

"We better get going," James said. "I want to get something to eat." He patted Lily on the shoulder. "See you at Hogwarts, Lils." He started to walk away with his friend.

"I want to try and get a look at Wendy Jones. Noticed at the platform she's gotten rather fit over Summer," she heard Louis muse before she flopped down in her seat, grinning.

Hugo, with a face red and sweaty from exertion, sat down across from her. As soon as he noticed her face, his face spread out in just as big a grin. "Can you believe we're finally going to Hogwarts?"

"I can, actually. I'm so glad we're finally going. Can you believe we're the last ones of the family? Next one's still over a decade away and will probably be Victoire's and Teddy's. We're it for now, you know."

Hugo listened to his cousin chatting away. Lily always was a mile a minute, until she started reading, that is. He only needed to give the occasional nod or two syllable answer to have an entire conversation with her, which suited him just fine. As the youngest in an overcrowded family, it really was easiest for him to listen and observe.

Funnily enough, the cousin closest to him in age – Lily was only a few months older than he was – was also the loudest. That maybe had something to do with the fact that she was – for lack of a better word – tiny. She had already been small as a baby, and now, at nearly twelve, she still reached no further than four feet and eight inches. She had the same bony frame as both of her brothers, all in all making her look a lot more fragile than she actually was. Her family had often joked that the fact that she was so small was the reason she was as explosive as a Blast-Ended Skrewt. Her magic, they reasoned, just didn't have enough room in her body and tried to escape it, resulting in the extraordinary amounts of accidental magic she displayed.

Lily's chatter and Hugo's thoughts were interrupted by someone stumbling through the still open door of their compartment. They both looked up and saw a boy with mousy brown hair, holding a trunk in a death grip, trying to stand up.

"Hello there," Lily said kindly. "Another first year?"

The boy looked around, looking a bit intimidated. "I am. Are you first years, too?"

Lily nodded. "I'm Lily, and this is Hugo. Who are you?"

"I'm Brian. Brian Smith." He straightened up a little bit, tugging his robes back in place. "Would it maybe be okay for me to sit with you? I've tried every compartment, but a lot of them are quite crowded and all these older people are running around and making stuff fly and I'd really like to have a place to sit."

The boy didn't look very sure of himself, and Lily wondered if he had even known Hogwarts existed before he got his letter. She couldn't imagine anyone growing up with the stories about the castle and then being scared of going. So to help the kid out – who couldn't be that much younger than her, but certainly acted a whole lot younger, she thought – she motioned her hand to indicate all the free space. "Take a seat, make yourself at home. You want a biscuit? Need a hand with your trunk?"

"Thank you. Could you? I mean, help?" He looked slightly disbelieving, and Lily laughed.

"I'm stronger than I look," she promised the boy. "C'mon, let me give you a hand, and then you can tell us all about who you are and if I like you I'll share my sugared cinnamon skeletons with you. How's that for making friends?"

Brian turned out to be a nice lad. His parents were indeed Muggles. His father was a judge – which Hugo explained was someone who decided whether a criminal was guilty or not – and his mother was one of those Muggle Aurors. Lily figured that one out by herself, because she had often heard her father talk about the so called "police". Brian's parents had apparently met in court, and now lived in Salisbury with their family of three. His grandparents had passed away when he was still young, and he didn't have any cousins as both his parents had no siblings.

"No cousins and no siblings," Lily mused, more to herself than the boys. "Imagine how quiet that would be. Can you imagine, Hugo?"

"I can't, actually. I think the last time I've had any silence was when I was still in the womb."

Lily laughed her roaring laugh. "Yeah, well, imagination doesn't take experience."

"Too true. Any room left here?" Two boys and a girl had walked in at the same time, one of the boys asking. "I'm Eli Martins, that's Caleb Finch-Fletchley and the girl over there is his twin, Julie."

"The more the merrier. Your brother doesn't happen to be Tom Martins, third year Gryffindor?"

Eli smiled at her. "The one and only. How do you know my brother?" he asked, before starting to put his trunk away and sitting down across from her.

"One of his friends is my brother. He came to say hi and introduced me to his lot. Your brother seemed nice enough. I don't know any other Martins, though. How do the three of you know each other?"

It was Julie, who had taken a seat between Eli and Hugo and opposite her brother next to Lily, who answered. "Our grandparents know each other. Both our fathers are Muggleborns, and they're parents happened to go way back – the Martins and Finch-Fletchley's have always been close. We kind of grew up together."

"How exciting!" Lily said happily. "Such a wonderful coincidence!" She nudged Hugo's shin with her foot. "Don't you think that really cool? There must have been some witches and wizards a ton of generations ago – maybe they went to Hogwarts together. That would explain it, don't you think, Hugo?"

The ginger boy nodded meekly. "Sure thing, Lils."

Eli grinned at her enthusiasm. "We thought about that. Maybe we could look some stuff up about it. It would be cool if we could find anything. How do you two know each other?"

"Oh, our parents go way back, too," Lily grinned back. Eli cocked an eyebrow, and Hugo rolled his eyes but remained silent. Lily wouldn't like it if he cut her off. "They're siblings. Or at least, my mum and his dad. We're cousins."

The three halfbloods – who had probably grown up hearing stories about the war, contrary to Brian Smith, who was just silently listening – looked at each other and then back at Hugo and Lily. "And your brother and my brother are friends. You don't happen to be a Potter, right?"

Lily didn't really mind people knowing her last name. Albus hated it, James loved it – or most of the time, at least – but Lily really didn't care. She had always been good at tuning people out and letting them stare. Hugo, however, had started shifting uncomfortably, but Lily shot him a reassuring smile then looked at Eli. "Lily Luna, yeah."

"Wow," Caleb breathed. "That must be so cool."

She shrugged. "It's not, really. Our family's cool, but they're just parents."

Julie, who had noticed Hugo's shifting next to her, and was apparently a lot more tactful than her brother, decided to change the subject. "So the two of you will probably be Gryffindors? Considering the long line of lions you come from?"

"Oh, most definitely," Hugo grinned, a lot more comfortable with this conversation. "I can't see myself wearing any other colours than red and gold. How about you?"

As far as Lily was concerned, the whole discussion about Houses was of minor concern. She always thought the Sorting Hat would tell you when you got there, and all the worries her brothers and cousins had experienced were really not relevant. You were who you were, and the Hat could see it all and would then choose where you would get the best opportunities – no pressure choosing yourself, no fear of making the wrong decision. So while Julie enlightened Hugo on her family of Hufflepuffs – where not only her Muggleborn father, but also every documented person on her mother's family tree had been in – and the two of them tried to tell Brian Smith as much as they could about Hogwarts and Houses and classes, Lily and the other two boys started a conversation on Quidditch. Lily had always rooted for her mother's team, but Eli was a Puddlemere supporter through and through. Caleb switched teams every match, not being able to decide on a team, but loving the sport nonetheless.

At one point the Honeydukes Express rolled past, and the five first years that were raised on wizarding sweets bought tons of everything – Lily buying an outrageous amount of pumpkin pasties, her all-time favourite – to share between the six of them, taking the chance on educating their Muggleborn friend and on the wonders of magical food.

The six chatted, laughed and shared food and jokes until their throats were soar, and by the time the train came to a stop at Hogsmeade Station, spirits were high. They rushed to the boats. It was kind of a hassle to get organised, but eventually Lily and Hugo sat down in the boat next to the other four, together with two girls named Maggie Thompson and Mary Williams.

Lily was so wrapped up in conversation with her new classmates that she nearly forgot to look when Hagrid hollered to take a good look because in a little bit they would see Hogwarts for the first time. With all the memorials she had been to, it wasn't the first time she saw it, but she had never seen it from the lake and never as a student, and she had to admit, it was an impressive and exciting view, and she almost regretted not being able to look at Hogwarts for the rest of the night when they entered through the heavy front doors and into the Entrance Hall, where they were all gathered to wait for the deputy headmaster, who quickly came to lead them inside the Great Hall.

Standing under the enchanted ceiling Lily was completely thrilled. She looked at the relatively calm night sky and thought to herself, how amazing would the next seven years be if the train ride there was already the best trip she had ever taken. Completely tuned out, she tried to take in every detail. She spotted her brothers and cousins sitting at the table that must be Gryffindor's. She slid her eyes over to Ravenclaw's table, where she noticed Dominique sitting next to Molly. She waved to her two cousins and noticed how proudly Dominique wore her Head Girl's badge. She knew that at first it had caused minor friction between the two girls, especially since Dominique hadn't been a Prefect like Molly, but in the end Molly had valued their friendship over something as silly as who was Head Girl and had congratulated Dominique. Lily waved to her cousins, and Dominique waved back grinning, while Molly rolled her eyes, but also gave a small smile and an almost unnoticeable wave.

Teddy had been a Hufflepuff, but now there were now family members left. She did spot Lizzy Longbottom, and the girls shared happy smiles before Lily looked over to Slytherin's table, where she saw Scorpius Malfoy. The boy looked somewhat skinnier since he spent Winter break at the Potters, and Lily was sure that, when he stood up, she would see how he had grown a couple of inches – how annoying. But his pale blond hair was still smooth and combed back nicely, and his eyes were still the same stormy grey, so he hadn't changed that much. He quirked an eyebrow at her, and at first she thought it was because she was staring, so she was just about to smile and offer him a wave, when she felt Hugo nudging her in the back with his elbow.

"What?" she inquired, completely forgetting where she was and that it would be polite to whisper, but every student just started laughing and talking, while the little Elvish man that had led them in – professor Flitwick, she recalled – just frowned and repeated "Potter, Lily" while holding a quite badly repaired hat up.

"Oh, yeah, that's me," she said, again without thinking, causing another round of laughter. She walked forwards to the stool, in the back of her mind registering that the girl before her ("O'Reilly, Amy") had been sorted into Gryffindor and would therefore, if the Hat decided to continue the family tradition, be her roommate for the next seven years.

She apologised softly when she sat down – because her mother had raised her well, even though she sometimes forgot to show it – and Professor Flitwick offered her a kind smile, putting the Sorting Hat on her head.

As soon as she felt it touch her auburn waves, the Hat started humming and talking. "So much going on in such a small head, really," he whispered. "Brains, but more of a drive to know than to learn… Kind and fiercely loyal, but maybe a bit too fierce to be a Hufflepuff. Drive to know… Very ambitious indeed, but also brave – some would say reckless, I presume. Just as interesting a case as your father, little girl. Even more interesting than your brothers were. Are you, too, going to ask me to put you in Gryffindor?"

Lily didn't really know whether she had to answer out loud or if the Hat would just read her mind, but she did anyway. "I won't ask. You wouldn't do the Sorting if you weren't believed to know best, and I'll make it work no matter where you put me."

It almost sounded like chuckling when the Sorting Hat said: "Well, I suppose that would make you a true GRYFFINDOR!"


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Is it really necessary to do the disclaimer each time? It's in the summary. Don't think Rowling would be writing fanfiction anyway.**

 **Reviews really are the best thing for a fried brain that's longing for a study break. Thanks so much to everyone who takes the time! I hope you will enjoy this chapter. It's a lot shorter than the last one, like I said, but the next one will be a lot longer.**

Chapter 4

Lily had never been more excited waking up on the day of her birthday. The morning of September 2 2019 she jumped out of bed a little after four o'clock, took her time showering and getting dressed, and went down to the common room at quarter to five with her full backpack casually slung over her shoulder.

She started reading her book on potions. She was really not very sure how she would do in that particular class: James was great at it, but neither of her parents had ever been very good at the subject and Albus really sucked at potions, always partnering up with Scorpius to make sure he didn't accidentally poison the entire class. Lily knew she was a good cook, because she had spent a lot of time in the kitchen growing up, either with her grandmother or her Kreacher. However, she was an impatient one and horrible at following recipes, rather going with her gut than doing what she was told. She was hoping against hope that the same would work for her potions class, but she understood enough to know that for being able to follow her instincts, she needed to read up on the ingredients and what their characteristics were.

All of a sudden, her book was snapped shut and she looked up, startled. "Oh, good morning, Jamie."

Her brother shook his head. "For Godric's sake, Lily, I've been calling your name for ten minutes before I saw you curled up here like a cat. This zoning out thing will one day get you killed, mark my word."

She rolled her eyes. Her brother could be so dramatic. "Well, thank Merlin you'll always be there to save the day, won't you?" After putting her book back, she stood up and put both her hands on her hips. "Well, aren't you going to wish me a happy birthday?" she asked.

"I'll do that once I've gotten you to breakfast. You do realise it's already half past seven and we wanted to give you our birthday present now, right?" James had already started steering her towards the portrait hole, not even waiting for his sister to say anything.

Lily frowned. Half past seven? That couldn't be right. And where had everyone else gone to? Realisation started to dawn. "Wait a minute – has everyone already gone down to breakfast? Why did nobody think of telling me?"

"We couldn't find you. I think people thought you were just one of the pillows. At least you'll still be in time for the start of year prank. We have designed this one especially for you, Lily-bud."

This sparked her interest and abruptly shook her out of her musings. "Really? What's it going to be then?"

Her brother shot her a lopsided grin before pulling her into the Great Hall towards the Gryffindor table. "You'll find out with the rest of the school after breakfast, but I promise you, you'll love it." He kissed the top of her head before running the last bit to where his friends were seated. "Happy birthday Lils!"

James's announcement during breakfast had earned her a ton of well-wishers popping over to her spot between Hugo and her dormmate Mary Williams to tell her happy birthday, including her seemingly endless stream of cousins. They all promised her that they would hold a big gift-giving session later that night in the common room, including the presents her parents, aunts and uncles and grandparents had stacked away in the trunks brought by her brothers and cousins. She did get a lot of letters, even one from her uncle Charlie in Romania, who included a beautiful necklace with a baby tooth of a Hungarian Horntail dangling on a leather string. She wrote him a quick note to send back with this owl, making a mental note to write her favourite uncle a long, elaborate letter later that day to send with one of the school owls.

James and his friends had left breakfast shortly after he had brought his sister down, and even though the now twelve-year-old was extremely hungry she had a quick breakfast, excited to see what her brother and his friends had gotten up to.

During breakfast, she sat with her and Hugo's roommates. They were sorted together with three other girls and three boys into Gryffindor. Lily shared her room with Mary and Maggie, the two girls she had met on the boat ride across the lake, and a sweet girl named Amy O'Reilly. Hugo, Eli and Lily had been delighted the previous night when Brian was put into Gryffindor with them, together with Rick Cattermole. She explained to her seven classmates why she wanted to leave so soon, and because her excitement was catching, they all shovelled their breakfasts down and rushed to the Head Table to collect their timetables from Professor Longbottom, their Head of House. After checking them to see that their first class was Potions with the Slytherins, they walked as quickly as they could to back of the Great Hall, all the while discussing what the big prank could be, until they fell silent when Maggie pushed the door open.

At first, confusion hit when the sound of thousands of tiny feet hitting bricks reached their ears. Lily looked into the Entrance Hall and immediately understood that it hadn't been feet she had heard hitting the bricks.

Lily Luna Potter had always been a strange kid. One of her weirder things was that she loved it when it rained. And therefore, as a gift to her, James's start of year prank had been-

"Rain!" the tiny redhead shouted happily, dropping her bag and running through the door. Within seconds she was soaked to the skin and she roared with laughter while dancing around. It really was a great prank: rain was pouring down as if all the clouds in the world had decided to enter Hogwarts and relieve all their water within the walls of the ancient castle, although no clouds were visible. Funnily enough, there were only slight puddles, even as the rain kept coming down – it looked like the droplets disappeared as soon as they hit the ground.

Lily was happily splashing around, joined by some other students who decided to just not care and brave the water instead of remaining cooped up in the hall, until she heard the voice of the headmistress yell: "POTTER!"

The first year Potter looked up, wondering what she had done wrong. No one had ever told her that dancing wasn't allowed at the wizarding school.

"Not you, Miss Potter. Your brother," Professor McGonagall clarified. "Please continue, but do make sure to dry off before you enter your classes."

"Of course, Professor," Lily nodded, and Minerva McGonagall gave her a small smile before wishing her a happy birthday, casting an Umbrella Charm and stalking off, in search of James Potter.

"O'Reilly."

"Here."

"Potter."

"Here."

Slughorn looked up, curious to see the third Potter-child. However, as he looked around, he couldn't see anyone. "Potter?" he called again, this time trying to locate where the sound came from. He heard a distinct sigh and saw a head of red hair popping up from behind Cattermole's shoulder.

"Over here, sir," Lily Potter repeated and in that moment she sounded so much like the other Lily Potter – and she even looked exactly like a slightly shrunken version of her grandmother, the old Potions Master mused while taking in the tiny witch, except for those hazel eyes, that were so very much her grandfather's – that for a minute, he stood gobsmacked.

"Lily Potter," he said softly. "Will you be another Potions protégée?" he asked, only half teasing.

"One can only hope, sir," the girl replied with a soft smile.

The old wizard chuckled. Cheeky little thing. "Well, I, for one, certainly hope that you won't cause as much ruckus as your ancestors. Or your brother, for that matter."

Lily felt how her soft smile turned into a lopsided grin. The patented Potter-grin was the ultimate sign of being up to no good, but she couldn't help. "I won't make promises I can't keep, sir. Ruckus tends to find us, even when we don't actively look for it."


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Lily turned out to be terrible at Potions. Halfway through her first cure for boils she decided to add a splash of milk to her potion, to counteract the sharpness of the Pungous Onions and ginger and therefore maybe reduce the burning sensation when applying the potion to a boil, but as soon as she did this, the milk immediately solidified, making her potion into a gelatinous lump at the bottom of her cauldron. When trying to add mint to a pimple potion on the next week, the potion immediately froze, making her cauldron explode from the sudden coldness. Her third week in class, Professor Slughorn asked her specifically to not experiment with her Forgetfulness Potion and as a result she started reading and forgot to stir in time, leaving fumes of water of Lethe in the humid dungeon air.

Besides Potions and Astronomy – where she forgot to focus on taking notes and instead spent her hours stargazing – all her classes were a dream. She excelled at Transfiguration, did wonderful in Charms and had no troubles at all with keeping up in her Defence lessons. Despite the horror stories told by her parents and brothers, Lily really enjoyed her reading for History of Magic and the professor that had replaced the ancient ghost was even quite good at storytelling. Herbology was sometimes a bit of a struggle, but uncle Neville was understanding and had faith in her and promised her she would be fine.

Saturday morning, after her third week at Hogwarts, Lily awoke, once again, at half past four in the morning. Her roommates were still fast asleep, so she slipped out of her bed next to the window and into a robe to cover the shorts and tank top that were her pyjamas. She went over to her trunk to get some writing materials out and shoving everything in her pocket, she sneaked past the beds of mates, smiling at how fast asleep her new friends still were. She had always been a bad sleeper, even as a baby she would never sleep for more than one hour at a time and would only take a couple of naps like this throughout the day. Now, as an almost-teenager, she would fall asleep somewhere after twelve and wake up again anywhere between four and five, giving her no more than five hours of sleep per night. She didn't mind, because her days were just so much more productive with so many hours in it.

Thinking of what she wanted to write to her parents, she tried to walk as silently as she could through the halls of the sleeping castle. Every now and then one of the paintings would open their sleepy eyes and ask her what she thought she was doing, but she would just put a finger to her lips and walk on. The cold brick floors felt really nice on her bare feet, that felt just as hot as always. Her parents had once sent her to Mungo's when she was still little, because she looked flushed and felt somewhat warm. It turned out that, at a body temperature of 39.5 degrees Celsius, she was inexplicably and completely healthy. Then the explosions had started and she had been written off as a weird case, someone the Healers would check up on once every six months, purely because they were curious, but who they wouldn't worry about.

When she walked into the Owlery, however, Lily wished she had put on some shoes. The floors were gross, and she waved her wand around with a stream of water shooting out to slightly clean them. In the process, she alerted every single owl of her arrival, including her own owl, Luke, who flew down and landed on her shoulder.

Luke had been the birthday present given to her by her brothers. He had arrived at her first dinner at Hogwarts and was, as the certificate bound to his leg told her, a great grey owl, the largest species of owl known to man. Lily had immediately looked up as much information as possible on great grey owls and found out that her Luke – who she had named for the way Luke and Lily sounded together, thinking they would make a fine team – was even exceptionally large for his kind. His wingspan reached over the redhead's entire length and his body was just under a yard.

James had joked that this was exactly the reason they had chosen this bird, thinking that if she trained him well the owl was large enough to fly her places, and how cool would that be?

"That would be extremely cool, wouldn't it be, sweetie?" she cooed while softly scratching the owl's head. The owl closed his eyes and nipped her ear lovingly. She wondered how it could be that after only knowing the bird for just three weeks she could love him in the same way she would love a close family member. She was sure Luke loved her back, and not only for the owl treats she was feeding him while sitting across from him on the window sill. She pulled out her parchment and quill, not really sure what to write her parents. She had just written to them last week, and nothing worth special had happened that week, or at least nothing she could write a whole letter about. In the end she decided to just scribble a little note, telling them she was having fun, making friends, dinner was great, miss you, love you, see you at Christmas. She tied the piece of parchment to Luke's leg and, after giving him one more snack for the road, sent him off.

It was still early enough for stars to be visible. How beautiful those looked in the sky above the Scottish Highlands, she mused. She loved looking at the stars, but back home in Godric's Hollow there was too much light pollution to see a lot of them. There were a bit more over Ottery St Catchpole, but she had never been anywhere where there were as many as here. The only problem was that the window really wasn't built for holding a little girl in the right position to stargaze. After a bit she had to rub her neck to get the cramps out. The Astronomy Tower, however, was designed specifically for stargazing. She wondered if she could get up there at night. She would have to go there when there weren't any classes, so that was something she had to figure out.

"Lily Potter?"

She turned her head and smirked. "Hullo Scorpius. How are you?"

Scorpius frowned at his best mate's sister. It was only six o'clock on a Saturday morning. He had never before seen anyone else up at this hour. "Are you okay?" he asked, slightly worried. He remembered his first month at Hogwarts. He was lucky to have Albus, and he got along fine with his dormmates, but he had missed home terribly. That could be the case with Lily as well. After all, he had seen how tightknit the Potters were, and now she had to leave both her parents and her godbrother at home, not to mention the house-elf she had seemed to be so close to. "Do you miss home?"

She laughed, and even though he thought that maybe he should be offended because she was laughing at his question, he wasn't. Lily wasn't the person to be rude on purpose, and it looked more like she was laughing at herself.

"Most of my family is here anyway," she reminded him. "And I've never wanted anything more than going to Hogwarts. No, I don't miss home, even though I'm really going to enjoy being back there over Christmas." She shot him a kind smile, and her hazel eyes sparkled. "You can love multiple things, multiple people and multiple places all at the same time. The human mind is a wondrous thing."

Now it was Scorpius's turn to laugh. "And you thought six o'clock in the morning was the right time to think those things over?"

The little redhead cocked her head and blinked at him, looking an awful lot like the owls surrounding her. "Is it six already? No wonder I started to feel cramped. Two hours on a brick window sill will do that to a person."

His eyebrows shot up. "You've been here since four? Why on earth?"

Lily raised her eyebrows at him. "For the same reason _you_ are here at six, I presume," she said, sounding a little patronising. Again, he felt he should be offended by her tone, but really wasn't. How did she do it?

"I just, I don't know, always wake up rather early. I am not really one for sleeping in," he tried to explain.

"Same here," she said. "So I just came up here to write my parents a little note, you know, telling him how I feel and what I do and that sort of stuff. I've seen for years how much they enjoy the weekly letters my brothers always send, so I thought I would try and do the same, you know. But not a lot has happened this past week, so I was done quite quickly, so I decided to look at the stars for a bit. And then you came up."

Scorpius enjoyed the fact that Lily just talked. No need for prodding, no need for struggling through a conversation, she just told him what was on her mind. All of a sudden, he thought he _had_ something important happening that concerned her. "Well, now I wish you had waited for a bit to write that letter, because I need to ask you something." She sat up a little straighter, turning to him. She didn't have a wall behind her back anymore in this position, and for a moment he thought how easy it would be for the wind to get a hold of her and for her to fall out of the window. Then he noticed her attire. "Aren't you bloody freezing?" he asked, shocked. It was still extremely early, at the end of September, in Scotland. It really couldn't be more than ten degrees outside, and here she was, sitting in her shorts and a tank top with only an impossibly thin robe covering her upper body. She wasn't even wearing socks for Merlin's sake!

Lily rolled her eyes at him, like it was the most ridiculous question in the world. "I'm never cold," she stated simply, without further explanation. "You had something to tell me?"

Still processing, he looked up frowning. "What? Oh, yeah, right. See, I take an extracurricular with Slughorn. It's for people from third year and up who are especially gifted at his subject. It's to learn something about experimenting with potions, inventing your own, taking initiative, that sort of thing. I'm the only one from my year, and there's one person in the year above me who started last year, even though Slughorn doesn't want to tell me who it is. It's two hours, twice a week. What do you say?"

"Eh, good for you?"

"No, I mean, do you want to join?" Scorpius clarified. "You're not a third year, but Slughorn was a bit desperate, thought you might blow up his classroom within your first month at Hogwarts if he didn't do anything. So I thought maybe this way, you could experiment in a controlled way. We'd take the hours together, and I could tell you the stuff you haven't learned yet. So, what do you say?" he repeated.

Her face softened before a wide smile appeared on it, and for a minute it Scorpius thought that the sun had come out because of the brightness of her smile. "That's amazing," she said, sounding relieved and in awe. "Thank you so much!" She flew forwards and wrapped her arms around his neck, and the blond boy stood dumbfounded for a minute, awkwardly patting her on the back.

"I didn't really do that much," he said. "Just show up on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from half past seven till half past nine."

"You don't know how much you're helping me, really," she told him, still smiling. "Let me do something back. Join me for lunch at Hagrid's." Lily loved Hagrid. He was one of her favourite people in the world, and he loved her right back, so she went for weekly lunch with him. She figured it would be a nice thing to take Scorpius with her, but the look on his face suggested he thought otherwise. "Oh no, none of that," she chided. "I know all about what happened with your father and Hagrid, and I know that's why you never joined him and Albus for tea, but if anyone knows what it's like to be held accountable for things your parents did, it's Hagrid. Your joining me."

The Slytherin really didn't know how to argue this, so he just stood there, frowning at her. "What time?" he asked eventually, and watched as she grinned like a Cheshire cat, telling him to meet her in the Entrance Hall at noon.

She stayed there while he wrote his letter to his parents, and every time he looked up at her she was still staring out of the window up at the sky. He wondered what exactly she was looking at that was so fascinating she wasn't done with it after three hours.

"You do realise I know you're looking at me, right?" she remarked casually at one point, making him jump half a feet in the air. She turned her head and grinned at him. "You're not really the most subtle person. That quill of yours stops scratching every three lines, and I can't imagine you have to think about what to say that often."

"I could be thinking," he argued.

"But you aren't," she countered. "Because you're not that type of person." Before he could say anymore she jumped from the window sill (she was going to get herself killed with all that jumping on and off like that, he thought) and moved towards the stairwell. Not that he would have had anything to say. He had noticed Lily Potter had the uncanny tendency to leave people around her speechless. While running down, he heard her shout. "Don't be late!"

So there he was standing in the Entrance Hall, five minutes before noon, asking himself why the hell he was taking orders from someone a year younger than he was, when she came strolling towards him. "You're early," she told him, obviously sounding pleased by this – and he couldn't help but enjoy _how_ that sounded. "C'mon, let's get going."

Lily walked three steps in front of him, but he had no intentions of catching up with her. She was kind of overpowering, and this gave him the chance to just study her for a bit without having to simultaneously focus on their conversation. He briefly thought that she must have been telling him the truth when she had said she was never cold, because she was only wearing her uniform skirt with a sleeveless blouse. She had slung a linen tote bag over her shoulder, the bottom of which reached to her knees. She kept alternating between accidentally kicking it and adjusting it so it rested more on her back, where it stayed for two steps until it slid back against her knee. Eventually she sighed, wrapped the bands around her hand and held it that way. Scorpius thought he could offer to carry it for her, but he had no clue how that would go down and wasn't planning on getting her back in her rambling state.

They didn't talk during the whole walk to the little cabin, but Lily was never quiet. She hummed and whistled the whole way, and Scorpius tried to guess for himself what song it was. He was just thinking he could put his pride aside and just ask, when she stopped. Looking away from her back, he noticed they had arrived at the front door. Without so much as knocking, she pushed the door open and gestured for him to enter.

"Hagrid," she sung. "I'm home! And I brought a friend."

"Baby Potter!" the half giant said. Scorpius looked at the man, who stood up from the enormous arm chair by the fire. They made eye contact, and for a minute the black eyes narrowed, before a smile broke out behind his beard. "Yeh must be the young Malfoy! Albus has told me so much about yeh!"

"Pleasure to meet you, sir," Scorpius said politely, sticking out his hand.

Hagrid laughed and shook his hand.

"Scorpius is going to help me in Potions. He got me into Slughorn's experimental program thing. So I thought I'd take him here for lunch to do something back," Lily explained.

"Ah, yes, lunch- "

"That I brought from the kitchens," the little redhead said in a stern voice while unpacking the tote bag, which turned out to be full of packages of food. "You're cooking really isn't suitable for full humans, Hagrid, and I could only stay for a little bit if I had to rush back for mealtimes."

Hagrid nodded compliantly, still smiling, then nudged Scorpius in the side. "Feisty lil' one, ain't she? Has been ever since she was but a babe, I tell yeh. Known her since she fitted righ' in the palm of me hand." He smiled fondly at the girl, who shared a lovely smile with him.

"C'mon then," she said, pulling on Hagrid's hand. "Sit down and I'll tell you what Charlie wrote about Norberta."

Lunch went well – a lot better than Scorpius had imagined. Maybe it was because Lily was here and Hagrid was exceptionally fond of her, or maybe she had just been right and Hagrid wouldn't judge him on his father's action. Whatever the reason, the half giant had been nice and inquisitive, and had been very talkative as well, cracking jokes and sharing intel about Hogwarts and the grounds.

On their way back, Scorpius sheepishly admitted to Lily that he had indeed had fun, and he thanked her, saying she could tell him 'I told you so'.

Lily waved a hand. "We both know I did, so I am not going to say it. I am glad you enjoyed yourself, though. I would be a lousy friend if I did something to thank you and it turned out to be horrible, right?" she said casually, before she started humming again.

"What is that song you're singing?"

"Huh? Oh, _Do The Hippogriff_." She looked over her shoulder to see him staring at her, face blank, obviously not recognising the song title. "It's by the Weird Sisters. They were pretty big before the war, my mum is still a fan. We often put their songs on back home, and just dance around the living room."

Scorpius thought about the Potters jumping around their living room, and tried to imagine Draco and Astoria Malfoy doing the same with him. He couldn't. "Sing it for me," he said.

"You sure about that? I have the worst singing voice in the world, just to warn you."

"It can't be that bad."

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you." She sung the rock song, beginning to end, even including some dance moves. The dance moves weren't half bad – she had great control over her movements, thanks to being taught Quidditch from a young age. She hadn't lied about her singing, though.

"I stand corrected," Scorpius smirked. "Your voice really is that bad."

Lily through her head back laughing. "You thought I'd lie about that?"

He shrugged. "You know, the false modesty thing some girls do to get compliments? I thought it was something like that."

She knew. Of course she knew – how couldn't she, growing up with a bunch of female cousins and sharing a dorm with three other girls? She shrugged back at him, sharing a secretive smile. "That's not really my style, though."

"So what is your style?"

"Blatantly honest," she grinned, and he laughed.

"Naturally. I could've figured that one out myself, probably."

"Probably," she nodded. "But I like that you don't make assumptions. People are good at those, aren't they? Assumptions, I mean."

"They are," he agreed. "But I know what it feels like when people think they know everything about you, so I try to not do that to others."

"I know what it feels like, too, but I still assume a lot of stuff." She fell back to walk besides him and nudged his shoulder with hers. Or at least, she tried to, but her shoulder didn't reach above his elbow, so she settled for that. "You're a good person, Scorpius Malfoy."

And somehow, all of a sudden, Scorpius felt like he was on top of the world.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: So here's the next update. I really appreciated the reviews I got! They always make me happy, the short ones just as much as the longer reviews. The longer reviews do make it easier for me to reply, because at least then I have something to say except for "thank you", but the oneliners are just as welcome, even if it's negative, because that helps, too. Anyhow, on to the story. Next chapter will probably be a bit later because I have exams coming up this week and so far the chapter is only halfway finished, but I promise you it will come!**

Chapter 6

"I still can't believe you get to do the extra Potions class. You're already ahead in every other class," Maggie whined, looking between Lily's successfully Softened textbook and her own hardcovered copy. "Let me have my one victory."

Lily chuckled at this. Maggie was a natural at Potions and Herbology and did well enough with the theoretical aspects of all her classes, but wand work really wasn't her forte. "I'm sorry, Mags, but letting you have this as a victory will probably result in either me blowing up the dungeons or just poisoning everyone with the fumes I manage to produce. I let you have Astronomy, how's that for victories?"

Maggie shrugged. "Works well enough for me."

All four girls laughed together, and Amy leaned over to squeeze Lily's shoulder. "I think this will be great for you," she said, smiling her lovely smile. Amy had a soft voice, and she spoke in an Irish accent that Lily could listen to for hours. "Just don't get ahead too much and leave us for the fourth years."

Lily reached up to kiss Amy's cheek. "I'd never leave you," she promised. "Maggie, however, I could do without," she finished teasingly, earning herself a glare from her friend.

"It just sucks," Mary said, at the same time frantically looking in her book to find any tips on the softening charm, "because you promised me you'd teach me how to fly before flying lessons begin." She shot Lily a pointed look, and the redhead rolled her eyes.

"There are seven nights in a week, aren't there? So I'll still have five nights a week to teach you how to fly. Starting tomorrow, okay?" Mary an only child and a halfblood. Her mother had been a witch, but had passed away directly after giving birth to Mary. Her father had taught her as much as he could about the wizarding world, but he couldn't give her any practical lessons. To make matters worse, Mary was not what one would call the fastest broom on the pitch. She held her own, but just barely, and all three of the girls tried to help her as much as they could.

Mary nodded, her blond curls jumping up and down. "Good. Now could you all please, _please_ be quiet and just show me once more how to do this. Do I even hold this bloody stick the right way?"

"You know what you should do?" Hugo suggested to Lily over dinner, chicken leg in hand. "You should slip Slughorn some sleeping potion tonight. You know, make him miss his classes tomorrow, give us some free time."

Everyone laughed, except for Rose, who shot her brother a stern glare. "Drugging a teacher is _not_ something to joke about," she chided.

Lily rolled her eyes at her cousin. She really loved the older girl, but she couldn't stand the fact that she somehow had a sixth sense for dampening the fun as effectively as throwing a candle down the toilet. "Honestly, Rose, it's not like I'd do something like that," she told her. She stole the slice of treacle tart from Eli's hand right before he took a bite, who protested with a loud "Oi!" and jumped out of her seat, hoisting her backpack on her shoulder. "I'd just put a Ton Tongue Toffee in his jar of crystallised pineapple," she said with a smirk, before walking off, hearing laughter rise up and Rose yelling after her amidst all the noise.

The hallways were quiet. Everyone was still at dinner, but Slughorn preferred to take his meals in his rooms nowadays, so there really wouldn't be a problem with her arriving slightly early. Maybe she could use the time before Scorpius arrived to talk things over with the professor. She was painfully aware of the fact that she and the Slytherin had been invited for two very different reasons, but she was determined to get the hang of this thing. She hated feeling so incredibly inadequate when she knew she really wasn't. She was sure she could be great at it if she only put in the extra hours now.

However, when she entered Slughorn's office, Scorpius was already there, flipping through the pages of his copy of _The Encyclopedia of Toadstools_.

"Ah, Miss Potter, how wonderful! I am very glad you could make it!" Slughorn said jovially, and Lily offered the teacher a smile.

"Thank you for having me," she said genuinely. "Can I just sit anywhere?"

"Please sit with Mr Malfoy. He will help you – you will have to work together after all!" While Lily sat down next to Scorpius, who looked up from his book and smiled at her, Slughorn instructed them to start deconstructing the Cure for Boils that Lily had managed to mess up in her first class. "State exactly what you need your potion to do," he explained. "Figure out what every ingredient does and what it adds to this potion, why it is necessary here. See if there are other ingredients with similar abilities, what could make it more potent, how would those interact with the other ingredients used, et cetera, et cetera!"

As soon as Slughorn stopped talking, Lily turned to Scorpius, who had already scribbled down the list of ingredients and had started looking them up in one of the books Slughorn had provided them with.

It kind of annoyed her that he hadn't even discussed with her how they would approach this. Slughorn had specifically told them they were going to work together, and she knew she was going to need Scorpius guidance. "We're you planning on talking to me or what?" she demanded.

When her partner looked up, he almost seemed disturbed. "Just let me take the lead."

"Scorpius Malfoy, do I _look_ like my brother? I am here to learn," she said unbudgingly. "You can't just tell me you will figure it out and let me chop leaves and ground horns."

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Alright then Potter," he finally said. "We'll go over this list together."

Together they found all the characteristics of the ingredients for the potion they were making, and Lily explained to Scorpius her failed attempt at trying to make the Pungous Onions less pungent with milk, and he laughed, making Lily bite on the inside of her cheek to control her temper and not scold him again.

"Okay, so what would you have done then?" she wanted to know.

Scorpius, still grinning, looked at her. Her cheeks had flamed up, rivalling the colour of her hair, and her eyes shimmered with obvious annoyance. For a minute he thought it would be fun to tease her a bit, but he thought better of it and decided to explain it to her first, trying to defuse the situation and not make her explode.

"You have to try not to use ingredients that are made up of too many components. An ingredient such as milk is fine in more complex potions, when there are probably ingredients present that are similar to some of the components of your assembled ingredient or that can neutralise the components you don't want to use. Milk contains a lot of proteins, so while the idea was fine, you had nothing in your cauldron to stop the proteins from becoming solid."

Lily nodded. "It sounds so stupid, though, don't you think? I mean, I understand what you're saying, but on the other hand I would think a potion with more ingredients would also be more, I don't know- delicate? Because chances are bigger that you are also using something that won't react well to what your adding."

"Ah, Miss Potter, that's the first rule of potioneering!" Slughorn said happily, who had come over to take a look at their progress. "Neutralisation is always final. So when you neutralise an ingredient or component, you won't get a bad reaction, but the ingredient would also work a lot less well."

"But- " She looked confused. "So I would've ruined the effect of the onions had my plan worked?"

"You would've made the potion lest potent, so you'll need something that is less sharp and at the same time enhances the healing ability."

Lily blinked for a bit. "Olive oil?" she finally suggested, making the old Professor clap his hands.

"I knew you would be a natural!" he shouted cheerfully, patting her on her back so hard she almost slammed face first into her table. "Very well, Miss Potter! Ten points to Gryffindor!"

The redhead smirked at Scorpius, who just stared at the Potions Master. "Is- is that allowed?"

"I am a teacher, Mr Malfoy. I'm allowed to give and take housepoints however I think justified," Slughorn said casually, wobbling back to his desk.

"Yes Malfoy, he's a teacher," Lily teased him, earning her an eyeroll.

"Since when are we calling each other by our surnames?"

"Since you started that around half an hour ago. C'mon, I'm all of a sudden really excited for potioneering!"

Lily – no, Potter, Scorpius thought to himself with a little shake of his head – had gone from deep red from frustration to blushing brightly in excitement. He wondered how that worked for her. Most of the time she was a very stable person, not one for the mood swings he had seen in some of her cousins. Scorpius had heard of the Weasley-temper from Albus, but his best mate had also told him that Lily had always been quick to snap out of those tantrums – usually after causing one or two minor explosions. He remembered the dinner over the holidays in his first year when she had stabbed the table. That was the only other time he had seen her angry, and nothing had exploded then either.

"Does the whole blowing stuff up accidentally still happen?" he asked, immediately afterwards kicking himself for how random he had been, but she answered like it was a very natural question to ask, as if they had been discussing this for the past ten minutes and it was the logical next question.

"Sometimes," she said, not looking up from the gingerroot she was chopping up finely to add at the last stage. "Not as often as it happened before I started practising. Only once since I've come to Hogwarts. My magic has found a better outlet, but there's still too much of it. My spells are too powerful sometimes. When we were practising the Levitation Charm, we didn't get any of the stuff I had levitated down with just a simple Finite, and it takes a bloody long time for any of the spells to wear off. It's especially a hassle in Transfiguration, because we only learn to transfigure something into something else at first, you know, and not the other way around, so in order to let me keep practising, I would have to wait for the needle to transfigure back to a match on its own. So Boot has just decided to teach me to transfigure something and then how to transfigure it back so I can try again."

"But if you get it right the first time, why would you have to try again?" Scorpius had always done fine in his classes, managing to perform most spells at least at the end of class, but that was hardly the same as getting every spell right the first time you try them.

"Like I said, dosage is a problem with me. So I have to try again and again until I get that right. It isn't really a problem in transfiguration. I mean, most of the time you transfigure something in the real world, you do it because you want it to become something and stay like that, and if you don't want it to stay like that, you transfigure it back. But it does become a problem when charms are too powerful to stop. You need to be able to control your magic to really be a good witch or wizard, you know."

The blond boy nodded thoughtfully while stirring the cauldron. He had never thought about it like that, but he supposed it was true. Magic wasn't just about getting your spells right, but also about knowing when to use them – and how powerful they needed to be, he supposed.

They worked in relative silence for the remaining three quarters of an hour, only making some occasional remarks on the progress of their potion or possible changes to make, but with Lily humming all the time. He noticed it wasn't _Do The Hippogriff_ this time, but again couldn't pinpoint what it was. He didn't dare to disturb her, though, afraid she might stop humming and he would have to miss out. For some reason he found he worked better with her acting as his personal wireless.

When the potion turned it characteristic shade of blue and the fumes coloured pink, they showed their successfully altered Cure for Boils to their teacher, who was beyond pleased. He rewarded them each with ten housepoints – Scorpius again wanting to question if this was wholly fair, but he thought better of it when Lily kicked his ankle and they both thanked Slughorn. They cleaned up their workspace and put the potion in vials to bring to the hospital wing.

It wasn't until they had left the room and were making their way to the office of Madame Banday that Scorpius spoke again. "For someone who was said to be notoriously bad at Potions, you did exceptionally well," he remarked casually.

"Lot of big words in such a short sentence." He rolled his eyes at her, and she laughed. "I'm a quick study," she grinned at him. "And it's not so hard to do it right when you actually know what you're doing, you know? I just need to get the hang of it. You're a good teacher."

He smiled at her compliment. "Thank you. I was just wondering if the Sorting Hat considered putting you in Ravenclaw. Because you're smart and all."

"Don't you think that telling you everything the Hat thought of when sorting me would give you an unfair advantage? You would know me front to back immediately. Now where's the fun in that?"

Scorpius quirked an eyebrow at her. "Fun? What fun?" he inquired.

"The fun of getting to know someone, of course," she said as if it was extremely obvious. They made the turn to the hallway were the hospital wing was located.

"I've known you for almost two years," he pointed out to her. He was getting more and more curious by the second, and she wasn't relenting.

"You've met me two years ago," she corrected, pushing the door to the infirmary open with her shoulder. "But you've only just started getting to know me. Come on Malfoy, let a girl have a little bit of mystery." She put the box of vials with the attached note on the first table she saw, before walking off. "Have a good night!"

"Good night," he said to her retreating back. She was making her way in the opposite direction of the Gryffindor Tower. He wanted to shout after her, but thought better of it. She didn't look hesitant, she looked like she knew exactly where she was going. "You have more than a little bit of mystery, Lily Potter," he muttered to himself, shaking his head and turning around to make his way back to the dungeons.

His Slytherin friends were sitting around the fire, Exploding Snap cards splayed out on the table that had the telltale signs of minor explosions on its surface. Scorpius flopped down on the couch between Amanda Peters and Xavier Zabini. He had known the two of them for years. His and Xavier's father had been friends since their schooldays and had regularly caught up with each other, putting their sons together since they were old enough to accompany their parents on these outings to Quidditch matches or family events.

"Evening Scorpius. How was the old Slug?" Zabini asked, collecting and shuffling the cards.

"Still as old as this morning, Xav. What are we playing?"

"Classical."

Scorpius pulled out his wand and a couple of coins. "Count me in."

While Zabini dealt the cards, Amanda nudged his shoulder. "How did Potter do? Slowed you down an awful lot or what?"

Xavier and Scorpius had met Amanda at one of their family events a year before they entered Hogwarts. Amanda was a distant cousin of Scorpius's uncle and had spent the week with her family members, accompanying them to multiple functions including the annual Malfoy picnic hosted by Scorpius's mother. There never were a lot of children present at these things, and the ones that were, were put together under the watchful eyes of nannies and babysitters. Amanda had been one of the older kids, together with Scorpius, Xavier and Christopher Flint, who were all ten at the time and looking forward to entering Hogwarts the next year. As a result, they were allowed to wander off together after the initial pleasantries ("How do you do, Aunt?" "Yes, I'm very much aware of having grown since you last saw me five years ago") and had enjoyed their day in the forest bordering the Malfoy grounds.

Scorpius smirked, his aloof Slytherin smirk reserved for the layback role he took to when he joined his housemates. "She did surprisingly well, actually. Came up with some great suggestions." Amanda huffed and he grinned at her. "Jealous, Mandy?"

"Oh, please. Of an eleven-year-old with an ego?"

"She's twelve," Scorpius told her without thinking, looking at his cards. "But yeah, you come across a little jealous."

She whipped her dark blond hair over her shoulder and shot him a stern look. "I'm not jealous. I'm just looking out for you. You obviously need it."

"Do I now? I had no clue?"

"You're letting your best friend's sister reel you in."

"Sure I am, Amanda. She's twelve. I'm thirteen. There won't be any reeling in. You've read too many of your mother's romance novels."

"You're old enough to take a girl to Hogsmeade," she said slyly.

Amanda was pretty enough, and she was nice, and he enjoyed talking to her. The thought of asking her to accompany him the weekend before Hallowe'en had popped up in his head when the notice had come up on Saturday, but he had also figured it would be fun to go with his best mate the first time they went into town. "Let me get back to you on that," he promised her, and she shrugged, accepting this as an answer that would do. She didn't have much choice, Scorpius thought, because it was the only answer she would be getting out of him for now.

"Are we going to play or what?" asked an annoyed Christopher Flint from the opposite side of the table. "Don't get me wrong, I just love chatting with you, but I've already lost two Galleons to that arse over there and I really rather win them back then lose the other ten Sickles I have on this game."


	8. Chapter 7

**I apologise for making all of you wait this long for a chapter as short as did. I had great plans for it, but I got into some sort of writer's block and I couldn't see it going anywhere other than this, so I decided to just cut it short. My birthday was a couple of days ago, so I had to do all sorts of things with that as well and this chapter wouldn't have gotten anywhere within the next month which would be just idiotic. I wanted to just go on with the next chapter, which might be some sort of flight through the rest of the year in some thousand words and then I'll just continue into second year.**

Chapter 7

"Lily Potter, where on earth have you been?"

Lily jumped out from the portrait hole and looked up as soon as her feet hit the floor, straight into the face of Rose Weasley.

Rose Weasley was a pretty girl. She was tall, with very curly ginger hair that she despised but Lily loved, her father's blue eyes and plenty of freckles which Lily and the other Potters missed, making them the odd ones out at every family gathering. The only problem with Rose was that she somehow managed to nearly always look frantic, eyes flitting from one point to another, and that she somehow refused to stand up straight. Lily had often thought that if only Aunt Hermione had not sheltered Rose from everything related to sports and had just pushed Rose out of the door and let her fly a bit, the girl would've maybe learned how to carry herself. And if she would ever learn that, well, Lily had no doubt every boy would fall at her cousin's feet.

However, for now, Rose was still the lanky, panicky girl who stood in front of her cousin looking like the Hogwarts Express – face and hair both bright red and steam coming out of her ears.

"Morning, Rosie," Lily said cheerily. "What are you on about?"

"I waited up for you until well past curfew, but you never came back! I asked your roommates – " Rose pointed to the three girls who stood awkwardly next to a couple of chairs, obviously looking relieved that the Weasley wrath had changed its subject "- and they said you didn't even sleep in your bed! And now you're waltzing in here, like nothing happened, and all you have to say is 'morning, Rosie'?"

James sneaked up beside her, and even though Lily knew her older brother wouldn't yell at her, he did look at her with slight worry in his eyes. "Let's start with where you've been," he said softly, wrapping a protective arm around his baby sisters tiny frame.

She shrugged and put her head against his chest. "Just out, Jamie. Nothing special. I took a walk after my meeting, said down somewhere, fell asleep and woke up again this morning and took another walk."

"But just inside, right?" he wanted to know. "You didn't go wandering on the grounds or in the Forest?"

She had been outside, but only on the Astronomy Tower – which was where she had spent the entire night, dozing off and stargazing simultaneously. "I promise you I didn't go wandering on the grounds. But you know how I get," she whispered, very aware of the fact that they were on display for the entire House of Gryffindor.

James nodded solemnly. "I know. But you also know I worry. I know you can fend for yourself, but just promise me you look out for yourself. I don't care if you stay out all night, as long as you stay safely inside of the castle. You promise?"

"I promise," she said, and her older brother kissed the top of her head.

"Good. Everyone, go back to your things. The prodigal daughter has returned safe and sound, all in good health, no harm done and more stuff like that."

Lily was just about to walk over to her friends, when she spotted Rose, who was still fuming. "That's that? You're not going to Professor Longbottom? Or even tell her not to do it again?"

James shrugged. "You know Lily, Rose. She does what she does. She works best when we just let her be. As for going to Neville – you aren't seriously considering ratting your cousin out to her godfather, are you?"

Rose ears turned red, and she mumbled something about nepotism, earning her an eye roll from both siblings. "Had I been a prefect, I would have gone to our Head of House," she said finally.

"Yeah, well, you're not, Rosie," Lily said. "Please just leave it. If any of the prefects have a problem with me, they would've said something already, but you're the only one who's upset. I appreciate you are concerned for my wellbeing, but you know that getting points deducted and tuning me in for detention won't make me sleep better, and it won't stop me going out."

Rose still looked upset, but her face had softened a little. "You know I only do it because I care, don't you?" she asked quietly, and Lily smiled.

"I know, Rosie. But like James said, I can fend for myself. I'll just blow up a suit of armour when someone tries to hurt me," she promised her cousin, grinning, earning herself a frown combined with a small smile, suppressed smile, making Lily laugh. "C'mon Rosie, go get yourself some breakfast. You've got a long day of studying and reprimanding people ahead of you, and you'll need your energy." She watched how Rose walked off to the exit with a slight roll of her eyes before walking over to her friends. "You didn't worry, right?"

"Of course we worried, Lily," Mary huffed. "You could have gotten stuck in some horrible moving staircase and no one would've known about it until your leg would have fallen off from lost blood flow, and who would've taught me how to fly then?"

Lily smirked. "Well, at least you care, love. But really, you guys shouldn't be concerned when I don't come back to the dorm or when I'm out at odd hours. I have always been an awful sleeper, and I get restless and annoyed when I stay in bed. I will be fine, though, so don't get upset when you wake up in the middle of the night and my bed is empty."

Amy smiled her lovely smile, and she wrapped her arm around Lily's tiny shoulders. "Well, that's good to know, isn't it? Let's go get some breakfast."

"What's your cousin so upset about?" Scorpius hissed to Albus in Ancient Runes. Rose was sitting in the front row, almost aggressively taking notes, but hadn't raised her hand once since class started. "She hasn't said a word in the last fifty minutes."

Albus casually waved his hand without looking up, smacking Scorpius's cheek in the process. "Oh, sorry, mate. But it's nothing, really. She went crazy against Lily this morning. Apparently she decided to take a walk instead of go to bed last night."

"Well, there's nothing wrong with taking a little walk, is there?" Scorpius inquired, not seeing a reason for Rose to feel bad over something as minor as taking a walk.

At this, Albus looked at Scorpius. "She wouldn't have fussed about it, had Lily bothered to come back at any point during the night. However, my baby sister decided to spend the night out and about."

At this, the blond boy smirked a little. He hadn't put much thought into it, but he supposed Lily would be the kind of girl to do something like that – staying out long past curfew, not even bothering to go back to bed, within her first month at Hogwarts. He could imagine why straight-laced Rose Weasley was bothered by that. "Lily's okay though, isn't she?" Scorpius couldn't help but ask his best mate, who snorted and went back to doodling on his notes.

"Lily is fine – just like she always is."

Scorpius thought that would be true. After all, he had never encountered anyone who could frighten the living daylight out of him with just one look. He suspected she would have that effect on everyone, though he couldn't be entirely sure.

After class they made their way to lunch. As usual Albus asked Scorpius if he wanted to join them at the Gryffindor table, and as usual, Scorpius refused. He chose to sit with his housemates, but occasionally looked over to the table filled with students in red and gold coloured ties, especially to the fascinating little redhead. Lily seemed to draw people in, with her roaring laughter that was loud enough to still be heard all the way across the Great Hall. For the first time in over two years he regretted not taking his friend up on his offer of eating lunch with him.

It wasn't difficult to catch up with her little group when the meal was over. It proved to be a lot harder to find a way in to actually reach Lily. He coughed, eventually, and she whirled around, grinning at him. "Hey there Malfoy."

"Potter," he smirked.

Lily smiled at her friends. "You guys go ahead. I'll see you in Transfiguration." The herd of first years shuffled away, shooting glances over their shoulders, while she walked to the window and motioned for Scorpius to follow her. He leaned against the wall next to her. "So, to what do I owe this little bout of stalking?" she asked him.

He scoffed. "You do realise we go to the same school, right? Maybe I just had to go in the same direction and all of you were just blocking the way."

She chuckled. "Sure. So that's why you were shuffling behind us all the way from the Great Hall."

"You knew I was there?" he asked wide-eyed.

"Of course I knew. What, you think you can grow up as the youngest in a family with around a hundred cousins and not develop full three-sixty vision?" She laughed and patted his arm. "I just liked to see you struggling to break up the band of baboons. So, can we walk and talk or do you actually have to go the other way?"

"I have to go to History of Magic."

"Perfect. I have Transfiguration, so we can walk and talk." She already started making her way through the crowd and Scorpius had to hurry to catch up with her, but after that had to pay close attention to avoid outrunning her. He had grown a lot over summer, and there was a height difference of almost twelve inches, so for each of his steps Lily had to take two.

"So…" He started. "I heard about your little disappearance act last night. Where did you go to?"

She shot him a small smile and patted his arm. "I didn't tell my brothers, and I certainly did not tell my friends, and I am not going to tell you. I will tell you what I told them, though: I'm a bad sleeper and I get too restless staying in my dorm, so I decided to take a little walk. I didn't leave the castle, I made sure I was safe."

Scorpius shrugged. He really hadn't expected her to tell him everything after the way she had declared her need for mystery the night before, but it was a better answer than he had thought he would get. He had some other questions he wanted answered. "This question-answer thing right here is nice, isn't it?" he asked her innocently.

She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. "Sure is, Malfoy," she said cautiously. He sounded much too innocent for her liking – a lot more innocent than he was, she thought.

"I would say it's a great way to, you know, get to know someone."

She chuckled. Of course, that was what this was about. He wanted his answers from last night, when she had refused to tell him in order to keep her mystery. She didn't even mind him asking – he hadn't been rude when she didn't want to answer his questions when they were standing in that hallway, instead just letting her walk away. She thought allowing him his 'question-answer thing' would certainly not be the worst thing in the world. "No Sorting Hat questions, though," she warned him. "I meant what I said yesterday about the fun of getting to know someone. Any question related to the Ceremony give away so much the only thing we wouldn't know would be the other's preferred brand of underwear." Lily noticed how the boy's face flushed slightly, but he didn't seem to be overly bothered by his colouring.

"You're awfully forward for someone who is only twelve years old, Potter," he said, pulling his right eyebrow up and cocking his head in the opposite direction. "I'm sure that has to do with you being a Gryffindor. Still… Do you – and I'm asking your opinion on this, not the Hat's, so this is allowed – but do you think you would have felt at home in any other house?"

Lily thought carefully about how she would answer this question. She wouldn't be the best fit for Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. She was sure she would have been able to befriend some of her housemates, she would have made the best of her seven years at Hogwarts, but she would have never felt like she entirely belonged there. She just really wasn't made for either of those two houses. She did understand the reasons the Hat had considered Slytherin for her, though. Gryffindor was where she belonged, she was sure of that, but she would have been fine in green as well. "I think I could have felt at home in one other house. However, I don't doubt the decision the Sorting Hat eventually made. You know, you can be right for multiple houses, but I really believe there is one house you belong in."

"But there is only one other house that could have been right for you?" When Lily nodded, Scorpius asked his follow-up question: "And would that house have been Ravenclaw?"

The little redheaded girl smiled. "No, no. I think I would have made a rather horrible Ravenclaw. I really don't enjoy studying, you know." Before Scorpius could ask her how that was possible, she was already making her way through the crowd to the door of the Transfiguration classroom. "I might see you after class. Enjoy your day Malfoy!"

Scorpius was left standing in the hallway, trying to regain his composure before entering his classroom. Taking his seat next to Albus in the third row from the back, he sighed.

Albus shot him a sideways glance. "You okay there?"

Not really a proper answer, but an explanation nonetheless, the blond boy frowned and said: "Your sister is confusing."


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: I want to apologise for this taking so long. Things were a little crazy with exams and deadlines - which are a constant, really - and I kind of got out of the flow and then I just forgot to write. However, I do like how this chapter turned out, and I hope all of you do too. I just finished it and immediately published it because otherwise I was just going to forget about it again, so I hope you like it and it isn't full of mistakes. I hope you take the time to let me know what you think.**

Chapter 8

Lily had always been excited about starting school, but she had never thought of how well she would fit into the life at Hogwarts. The only trouble she had, was sneaking out of her dorm at night without being noticed, but the Invisibility Cloak and Marauder's Map came in really handy for that, and at night's when neither was available, she simply borrowed one of her brothers' broomsticks and took that to the Astronomy Tower.

She had made friends, enjoyed her classes (and excelled in them, to no one's surprise but to her parents' great joy all the same) and she perfected her skills as a Seeker whenever the pitch was empty. Tuesdays and Thursdays were great, when she could spent all evening with Scorpius chatting and laughing and experimenting. The Slytherin had found it difficult at first to trust Lily with the cauldron, her being two years behind him in education and sharing genes with Albus, who could completely ruin any potion with nothing but a glance in its direction. But Lily had showed him her worth, and he valued her suggestions.

Scorpius, too, very much appreciated having Lily around. She was by no means his best friend, but she was interesting and surprisingly exciting for a twelve year old, and he noticed he was looking forward to spending Christmas with the Potters not only to spend time with Albus, but also for the youngest Potter kid.

It was mostly Albus he needed to catch up with, though. Albus had made Chaser this year, Scorpius was Slytherin's Seeker, and between practice for the both of them and Scorpius's Potions, they hadn't had any more than the odd hour here and there, walks to and from classes and Hogsmeade weekends to just have fun.

Halloween rolled around, and Lily looked wide-eyed at the carved pumpkins that would fit her easily. To her dismay, two second year Ravenclaws had noticed this, too, and had picked her up and stuffed her in. Lily had been exceptionally good with her temper, not doing more than cracking a teacup every once in a while or sending a roll of parchment flying at someone's head, but when this happened she blew up the jack-o'-lantern, rising out of it as a chicken hatching from an egg, to come face to face with her orange splattered tormenters. The boys had been dealt detention to clean the hallway and Ravenclaw had lost twenty points, while Lily had gained ten for 'excellent self-defence skills' as their Defence teacher, professor Hawthorn, had said proudly.

Christmas came and went, and the Black Lake froze over and thawed again, and before Lily realised spring rolled around and she had to sit her end of year exams for the first time ever.

Scorpius and Mandy had gone to Hogsmeade together a couple of times, but broke up shortly after exams, deciding that they wouldn't last through summer, and instead Scorpius split his holidays down the middle, spending the first part with Albus at Godric's Hollow, after which the boys went back to Malfoy Manor to spend their remaining time, including Scorpius's birthday, with his family.

When 1 September came, most of them were more than ready to start the new schoolyear. Most of them, because Louis and James had not stopped complaining about starting OWL year until Lily had told them to suck it up, pick up their brooms and join her for a game of Quidditch so she could practice on her new Firebolt 12, an early birthday present from her parents. Gryffindor's Seeker had graduated the year before, and Lily was determined to be the best damned Seeker her house had had on the field after her father finished school, especially considering the humiliating defeat Gryffindor had known last year, ending third for the Cup.

Albus walked over to them when they entered the platform at Kings Cross to hug her parents goodbye, and boarded the train with his cousins and siblings, leaving Scorpius alone for his own farewells before catching up with them. Lily had yet to find any of her friends, and decided that she would just stuff her trunk in the same compartment as her brother and then wait until she saw someone pass them.

"Potter," she heard the familiar voice of Scorpius, and she shot him a grin over her shoulder.

"Malfoy. Happy birthday, you lucky bastard," she said teasingly. "Had a good one?"

"Thanks. It was great. And thank you for the birthday present. Very nice," he said in an appreciating tone of voice. She had sent him a set of beautiful glass vials with coloured glass figurines as stoppers, that she had found at some silly Muggle market with all kinds of great old stuff somewhere in Notting Hill. They had been quite cheap for something as pretty as that, and Lily had almost bought them for herself when she had realised Scorpius birthday was the day before term started, and he was one of the reasons she had learned to enjoy brewing. Figuring he deserved them more, she had bought them, wrapped them up carefully and hoped to Merlin that Luke would deliver the package without breaking its contents.

"I thought you would like them," she smiled while opening the door of the compartment Albus and Rose had claimed. "Let's hope you'll make good use of them."

"I'm sure I can find an appropriate purpose," he promised, entering after her and sitting down in the seat next to Albus. "How was your summer?"

"Well, you were there for the first part, and then I used August to assure Gryffindor was going to kick your arse at Quidditch this year," she grinned.

Scorpius rolled his eyes and chuckled. "You're awfully sure of yourself. Are you that good?"

"She's great," they heard James say, who had stuck his head around the corner and smiled at his baby sister. "Gryffindor's secret weapon."

Lily sat up proudly and shot her favourite brother a big toothy grin. James was a known ladies' man and a prankster, the typical 'cool kid', but he was also a great person and loved his sister immensely. "And when I'm not chosen this year, I'm sure I will be when my big brother makes team captain when Holmes graduates this year."

"I thought you Gryffindors took so much pride in earning what you get, chivalry and all that," the only Slytherin in the compartment teased, and Rose nodded fervently.

"We do," she said sternly. "And when I make prefect, I won't tolerate nepotism."

"'Course you won't Rosie," Lily said. "You going to stay with us, Jamie?"

James waved nonchalantly. "Nah, I promised I would meet up with the guys. I will see you at dinner, though," he said when she pouted, "so don't give me those eyes because they won't work. I just came here to tell you that Mum would really appreciate it if you didn't forget to wave goodbye again." And with that, he was off.

When a bunch of other fourth years started showing their faces, Lily decided it was time for her to leave. She liked spending time with them, but she had missed her own friends over summer – Mary and Maggie and dear, sweet Amy – and she was excited to catch up with them. Besides, she was getting restless sitting in the stuffy compartment. Her toes were tingling, her skin was itching, and she was wondering why they had to spend an entire day in a train if they could just Apparate, fly a broomstick, reintroduce flying carpets – really, anything was better than being locked in a metal box for hours on end.

Last June, the Healers had told Lily that her magic was changing. They couldn't give her the exact how and why. In fact, they couldn't tell her anything other than the fact it might have some effect on her body as well – which Lily wasn't against at all, considering the fact that she still was unable to reach the top four shelves – and that it was possible for her to start feeling a bit 'off' as they had put it.

Lily had already noticed these changes, though they were still small. She had also noticed they didn't leave when she went to bed, instead haunting her dreams, giving her even more broken nights, and she thanked Merlin she had never been bothered by her lacking sleep. To her delight, there were some things that brought her some peace. One of these things was flying, and reading helped, too.

And the third thing? Well, the third thing was not actually a thing, but more a someone. She grinned, knocking at the glass of the compartment where a bunch of third years were gathered around a pile of snacks, and saw the bright eyes of Rowan Wood connecting with hers.

Rowan Wood had decided – or maybe just thought, or acted on impulse, technicalities she didn't really care about anyway – that at almost thirteen years old Lily should have had her first kiss by now. After all, she looked young but acted a whole lot older than she was, and he was a boy who had just hit puberty and liked girls. So when they had formally met at a Quidditch game between the Harpies and Puddlemere – the game his father and her mother had dragged them to for 'old times' sake' – after already having spent an entire year in the same house at school, he had asked her for a walk afterwards and pressed his lips to hers behind the stands. The resulting feeling had left Lily trembling and gasping, but also very calm.

"Hey there Lils," he said cheerfully with a hint of his Scottish accent still shining through. "What are you doing here all by your lonesome? You weren't looking for me, were you?" He teasingly tugged at a strand of her hair that had escaped the bun on her head. "I must say, I'm honoured."

She rolled her eyes but chuckled. She enjoyed the light teasing ways of Rowan. He was easy to hang out with, a nice bloke who didn't look at all bad, either. "Of course I came looking for you. But really, what would your friends say, hanging out with a second year?"

He smiled. "A second year that's only half a year younger," he reminded her, and he lowered his head to softly press an innocent kiss to her lips. "Happy birthday in advance."

"You can wish me a happy birthday on the day itself, you know. It's going to be rather hard to avoid the mob of Weasleys roaming the castle halls tomorrow if that was your plan with this 'in advance' business." She stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him back. "So, you ready for Quidditch try-outs?"

This somehow triggered Rowan into a deep laugh. "Your mind is a wonderous place, Lils. Yes, I'm ready. Are you?"

"Godric, yes," she breathed. "I am so excited."

"No frolicking in the hallways!" they heard a sharp voice. While Rowan whipped his head around, Lily simply shook her head and peaked around his shoulder to her older brother.

"At least, that's what I would have said if anyone had made me prefect," James amended.

Lily chuckled. "Good thing Neville is still sensible enough to, you know, _not_ do that."

"Good thing. Well, you crazy kids continue. Don't hurt the lass, lad, or I'll hurt your face."

The guys strolled along, and Rowan was still looking a little wide-eyed. "Was that his attempt at making himself sound Scottish or something?"

"It was," Lily nodded. "And I'm so sorry you had to hear that. He has always been terrible at accents. We tried to get him to stop, but, well, it's James, you know."

"And he's okay with his baby sister kissing boys in the middle of the Hogwarts Express?"

"James isn't a hypocrite. Besides, I'm only kissing, and only one boy. Now, had we been making out, I think he would have had a little bit more to say, but James is no saint, and he certainly wasn't an innocent thirteen year old."

Rowan grinned down. "Well, I say we'll save the making out for when your _actually_ a thirteen year old, but I'm not opposed to a bit more kissing."

At that moment, one of Rowan's friends smacked the window. "You coming in to finish the game or are you staying out there?" Before he could respond, she shooed him in.

"You go. I need to catch the girls anyway. I'll see you at dinner, or tomorrow or something." She pecked him on the lips and skipped of.

When she at last found her dormmates, she had been looking around for over an hour and had her pockets stuffed with pumpkin pasties and cinnamon sugar quills. "So this is where you girls have been hiding!" she exclaimed, flopping down next to Amy. "How are you?"

Amy shot Lily her lovely smile and gave Lily her trademark squeeze in the knee. "Good, good. How was your summer?"

Before Lily could answer, Mary interrupted. "Yeah Lils, kissed any boys?"

The redhead rolled her eyes. "So I take it Hugo has already graced you with his presence?"

"And I can't believe you neglected to tell us!" Maggie exclaimed. Her face looked stern, but her dark eyes twinkled. "Explain yourself, young lady!"

"There is not really that much to explain. Rowan – you know, Rowan Wood, he is starting his third year – went to the same match a couple of weeks ago and we talked a bit during the boring parts, when players were switched and escorted off the field and stuff, and afterwards our parents wanted to catch up and Al and James weren't there so Rowan and I went to look at the merchandise together. So we were walking around, and he pulled me behind a stand, and he asked me if it was okay if he kissed me. And I laughed, and I said that sure, it was fine, if he was okay with kissing an unexperienced soon-to-be thirteen year old, and apparently he was, because he kissed me." She shrugged.

Amy cocked her head, her thick black hair falling to the right side of her head. "And are you together now?"

Lily drew her eyebrows together. In truth, she had really not thought about her relationship status and there had not been that many words spoken the one time they had met up after the match. "I don't think we are," she finally decided. "But he is nice, and I like kissing him. I'm only turning thirteen tomorrow, I don't want a boyfriend."

"So don't have a boyfriend. I mean, look at James. Must be in your genes or something."

Lily made a ball out of the wrapper of a pumpkin pasty and shot it at Mary's head. "Don't be a bitch, Mary. It doesn't suit you."

The rest of the trip was filled with tales of their summer. Maggie had visited some relatives in South Africa. She had taken some beautiful pictures, and Mary, who had been raised by her Muggle father, and Amy were still amazed at the moving frames.

"I still can't believe that whenever you take a picture, you get a short film out of it. Isn't that just the greatest thing? I think it's the greatest thing," Mary breathed.

Lily grinned and had just opened her mouth to say something, when she saw the slumped and lone figure of Scorpius Malfoy walking by. "Give me a second," she murmured, jumping up and running out of the compartment to catch him. "Malfoy! Hey, wait up!" She finally caught his shoulder and he turned around. "What are you doing here all by your lonesome?" she asked, before taking a closer look at him. He looked distressed, red spots covering his neck as if he had been rubbing it frantically.

"Nothing. Just- trying to find my, eh, my people," he stumbled over his words, mentally kicking himself for both how insecure he sounded and his choice of words. _His people?_ He had most definitely not meant it in a pureblood supremacist way, but after having been called little short of just that minutes earlier, he couldn't help hearing the unintended double meaning of his words.

The youngest Potter had not interpreted his words in that way at all, but that did nothing for the worry she felt. "Your people? And since when are Albus and Fred and the rest of that bunch not your people?"

"Since their roommates' parents decided that they were old enough to be told the finer points of who was on the wrong side of the war." He tried, he really did, but he couldn't avoid the bitter tone that entered his voice. He had never encountered any problems with these people in the three years they had gone to school together, but now all of a sudden his last name was becoming a problem. Albus had tried to calm everyone down, but in the end Scorpius had decided that he didn't want to cause his best mate any problems with his other friends. Scorpius had always thought that the Potters – maybe the people with the most reason to hate his family – knew most about forgiveness. This thought was confirmed even more when he saw the eyes of the girl before him flare up – not with the pity he didn't want, but with righteous anger.

"How _dare_ they," she spat frustrated. "How do they _fucking dare."_ Their eyes met, Scorpius's shocked by her swearing and hers still angry. However, when their eyes locked, they both laughed shortly, releasing the tension of the Slytherin's revelation. When they stopped laughing, Lily stepped closer and put her hand on his arm. "They are incredibly wrong to do this, Scorp, and you know it. Albus knows it. Everyone that matters knows, I promise."

The blond boy smiled down at the passionate redhead. "Thank you, Potter. But really, it's okay." Lily tried to say something – probably that it really was not okay – but Scorpius cut her off. "I always fitted in better with the Slytherins. Your brother is still my people," he grinned, not as upset about his wrong choice of words anymore, "and so is the rest of your family. You are still my people."

Lily gave a big toothy grin at this. "I better still be your people. Would be bloody awkward during those Potions classes otherwise, let alone winter break." He cocked an eyebrow at her, and she chuckled. "Oh, yeah, and because you're my friend, too, I guess."

He laughed softly. "I was already beginning to wonder." He patted her shoulder and started to walk off. "I will see you on Thursday in Potions, Potter. Have a good birthday."

"I expect a great present," she called after him. "After all, I _am_ your people!"


End file.
